Kaci: You’re kidding.
Her response comes quickly as I expect, followed by another one that’s rapidly fired.
Kaci: Be honest. I’m just getting to my class, but I’ll come running if I need to.
Jackson: I’m kidding.
Jackson: You seriously only gave me fifteen minutes. What did you expect to happen?
Kaci: Hopefully nothing.
Jackson: We are fine. I’m putting my phone away. Pay attention to your class.
I watch my phone to see if she replies. I can only imagine the way she would be glaring at me if she were here. She thinks she’s tough, but I might not be able to hold my expression steady. I can picture that pouty lip aimed right at me…
It's more funny than it is intimidating.
Well, funny and adorable.
I stare for another minute and get no texts.
Wow, she actually listened. Hmm. I put my phone back in my pocket and casually look at the kids, and I jolt.
They swirl their hands through giant circles of paint spread across the table, giggling uncontrollably. Their protective aprons are useless—I can barely see them beneath the smears and handprints they’ve stamped all over each other. “Guys!” I lunge forward and then pause, not sure what I’m going to do. I’m not touching this mess. “Stop it,” I scold and take a cautious step closer, scanning the room for the attendant. Apparently, she’s stepped out.
“We are murals.” Rigsby turns to me, and I bust out laughing. He has a blue mustache painted above his upper lip. Aside from the mess, it’s pretty on-character. I shift my attention to Bella. Sure enough, she’s also in character with yellow over her lip and red to her cheeks.
I jab my hand through my hair as the tension piles into my shoulder. It’s sort of funny, and I can’t even be mad at them. I took my eyes off them for just two minutes. Now I have to get them cleaned up before Kaci freaks out, and blames me for not watching them. I don’t have time to run home, and Rigsby doesn’t have another change of clothes anyway.
An idea pops into my head. “Guys,” I raise my voice, “Painting class is over. We need to go shopping.”
nine
Kaci
With a renewed appreciation for personal car ownership and no longer caring that one of my car doors doesn’t match the others, I proudly park in the only empty spot on the block. It happens to be right outside the general store, the place Jackson said to meet him. It’s a good thing too, because I need a new purse. I keep forgetting the zipper on mine is broken. Twice it has tipped over and things have fallen out. The last thing I need today is to lose my wallet. Instead of taking my purse, I grab only my wallet and go inside.
Jackson is right where he said they would be—up front by the candy machines. From the size of the smiles on the kids’ faces, they’ve had more than I would have given them. I stride through the door and greet Bella with a smile. “Hey, honey.”
She’s holding Little B, which is exactly what I expect. When she turns to me, I’m a bit jarred to see her cheeks painted red and a mustache under her nose. I leak out a chuckle. “It looks like you had fun.”
“I turned my attention away for a minute to text you, and that’s what happened.” Jackson steps closer to me, a wry smile on his face. “Not to mention their shirts were ruined. I brought them here for new ones. I hope it’s okay, but I threw the one she had in the trash. It wasn’t worth saving.”
My gaze travels down Bella’s outfit. Her jacket is unzipped, revealing a navy shirt peeking out instead of the one she was wearing before. “You didn’t have to pay for new clothes.”
“If you had seen them, you would say something different.” His words braid with a light-hearted chuckle, as the kids beam. A weird feeling washes over me. Like I missed out on a party or something.
“Well, that’s nice of you, but not expected. How much was it?” Still holding my wallet, I start to unzip it. “I’ll pay you back.”
“You don’t owe me anything.” He places his hand over mine, and an electric zap rockets through my arm. We both freeze, our eyes locking instantly. I want to ask,what was that!? I can see by the way his eyes have tripled in size that he felt it too.
Chalk it up to static electricity, because there’s no way it would be anything else.
Could it be anything else?
He pulls his hand back, first jabbing it through his hair as if nervously fidgeting and then dropping it to his side. My lips finally unfreeze. “It’s not your job to clothe my kid.”
“No, it’s not.” His voice is calm. “But she ruined her shirt on my watch. Plus, I upgraded her wardrobe. I got them matching hockey T-shirts, because she’s now one of my biggest fans.”
